The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a proposed settlement on August 7 that would permit UnitedHealth Group (UHG) to acquire Amedisys Inc. under two key conditions. The first condition would require the joint entity to divest itself of 164 home health and hospice locations across 19 states, which are estimated to account for $528 million in annual revenue. According to the DOJ, this would represent, by number of locations, the largest divestiture of outpatient health care services to resolve a merger challenge. It is reported that Amedisys has more than 300 Medicare-certified home health locations operating in 37 states and Washington, DC. The two companies’ home health and hospice services primarily overlap in the southern United States. According to reports, UHG had already initiated this process when it made moves in late June to enter into a purchase agreement to sell some of its shared home health and hospice locations to VitalCaring Group if the merger were to go through.

The second key condition of the settlement is that Amedisys would be required to pay a civil penalty of $1.1 million to the United States for falsely certifying that it had truthfully, correctly, and completely responded to the United States’ requests for documents.

The proposed settlement will be published in the Federal Register and open for written comments for 60 days after publication. Following the comment period, it will be up to a Maryland U.S. District Court to decide if the settlement is in the public interest and, if so, enter a final judgment. This DOJ press release provides details, including a map of the locations subject to divestiture. LeadingAge noted concerns about this merger in a May 2025 comment letter to the DOJ Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force and recommended close scrutiny and consideration for the potential negative impacts it could have on beneficiary access to care. We will conduct additional analysis of the proposed settlement.